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What was achieved at the high-profile meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House? Dr. Dan Schueftan, Director of the National Security Studies Center At Haifa University, assesses various aspects of of Obama's new Middle East policy and the response of Israel's Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. In this wide-ranging interview with David Essing, Dr. Schueftan also discussed future scenarios against the backdrop of the Iranian nuclear threat.

After their extended meeting, President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not only accentuated their agreement on the need for achieving Middle East peace, but also stressed their differing approaches for achieving the goal. The new American leader has a definite blueprint that includes a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu views as a hostile 'Hamastan' on the West Bank. As for the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu's assessment is that Tehran has already crossed the 'technological threshold' for producing the bomb while the U.S. has given until the end of the year before deciding on ' stronger sanctions'. IsraCast assesses the diplomatic parrying between the two leaders at the White house.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that U.S. President Barack Obama has sent a senior official to Jerusalem to warn Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to surprise the U.S. with an attack on Iran's nuclear installations. The American warning came after a Netanyahu emissary traveled to Washington to meet with National Security Adviser General James Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile the IDF's Commander of Intelligence has crossed the technological threshold and could start producing weapons grade uranium, enough for a nuclear bomb within 'a number of months to one year'.

Pope Benedict XVI is about to begin an historic five-day visit not to Israel but to the 'Holy Land' - that is the preferred Vatican terminology. Dr. Yizthak Minerbi, an Israeli expert on Vatican affairs, who lived through the Holocaust, discussed with David Essing the various aspects of the Pope's approach to Israel and the Jewish people.

Should Israel go it alone, if its intelligence community discovers that Iran is about to produce a nuclear weapon? What is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu likely to tell U.S. President Barack when they meet in the White House later this month to discuss Iran and the Palestinians? In an exclusive interview with IsraCast, Moshe Arens a former Israeli defense minister and foreign minister as well as ambassador to Washington, discussed these crucial issues as the U.S. leader prepares to engage Iran in a nuclear dialogue while 'urging 'progress on the ground' along the Palestinian track.

Israel has marked its 61st Remembrance Day with memorial services from Mount Hermon in the north to the port of Eilat in the south. Tens of thousands of Israelis flocked to military ceremonies in the hundreds of military cemeteries to remember the 22,570 Israeli fighters who died so that Israel might live. But shortly before the memorial services began, West Bank President Mahmoud Abbas declared in no uncertain terms that he would never even recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace track will now move to Washington, after American peace envoy concluded his second round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It was the first time that Mitchell met with Israel's new Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The meetings came against the backdrop of the Egyptian uncovering of an Iranian Hezbollah terrorist ring operating Egypt that highlighted the clash between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Arab states. In an interview with Isracast, Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and adviser to Prime minister Netanyahu assessed the outcome of the Mitchell visit.

How and why has Labor Party leader Ehud Barak succeeded in swaying his left wing party into joining the right wing coalition of Bibi Netanyahu? IsraCast examines some of the implications after the dramatic vote by the Labor Party conference and why many Israelis may now sleep sleep a little better.

In a startling switch of events, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak has accepted an offer by Prime Minister designate Binyamin Netanyahu to join his Likud led coalition. In fact, Netanyahu and Barak have already worked out a secret deal which has enraged Labor Party doves who oppose Netanyahu's political and economic policies. The Labour Party conference is expected to decide the issue.

In Cairo, Egyptian mediators were working around the clock with Israeli and Hamas negotiators trying to hammer out an agreement on the release of captured Israeli soldier Sgt. Gilad Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian terrorists; on the West Bank, Palestinian terrorists shot dead two unsuspecting Israeli policemen. The deadly terror attack illustrates the dangers of setting free hundreds of hardened terrorists many of whom can be expected to strike again. On the other hand, Israel must cope with its historic pledge never to leave a soldier in captivity.

US President Barack Obama has officially announced that he is sending former U.S. Senator George Mitchell to the Middle East in a new attempt to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At a State Department news conference, Obama spoke of aggressively tackling the issue but what can realistically be expected after the recent war between Israel and Hamas? IsraCast turned to Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, who believes president Obama will look before he leaps into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Key European leaders converged on Jerusalem in a strong show of support for Israel against Hamas arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. But at the same time, they strongly urged Israel to use the outcome of the war in Gaza to jump-start the peace process with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the West Bank. The IsraCast analysis is that the impressive show of European as well as American backing for Israel against radical Islam is a prelude to a new world order that will be headed by President Barack Obama.

Israel's security cabinet has voted overwhelmingly to accept an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza. However, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that Israeli troops would respond severely if Hamas continues attacking Israel. But while Israeli leaders in Jerusalem were announcing the unilateral cease-fire, Hamas launched more rockets into Israel.

Iran has been 'calling the shots' for Hamas in the current war with Israel - that's the assessment of Menashe Amir, a leading Israeli expert on Iranian affairs. Iran, which supports Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza with hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as with military aid including instructors, apparently gave the order to Hamas leader Haled Mashal in Damascus who related to the Gaza Strip. In Amir's view, there is no doubt that Iran is manipulating Hamas, as it does Hezbollah in Lebanon, not only against Israel but as part of its ongoing confrontation with Sunni Arab state in the Middle East. Egypt, Saudi-Arabia, Jordan and other Arab countries are furious over Iran's interference, something which most European countries fail to understand. In this wide-ranging interview with IsraCast, Menashe Amir analyzes various aspects of the current hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

Appeals by Israeli leaders, from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and even Egypt have apparently gone unheeded by the Hamas leadership of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian terrorists who govern Gaza have continued to fire scores of Qassam rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians in the towns and villages just over the border. It has been a time of terrorizing the Israeli children, women, and men who live in the area, many of whom have fled their homes. Unless there is some dramatic halt to the terrorism by Hamas it will only be a matter of time and the weather, before Israel finally launches a counter-terror operation to suppress the attacks.

Hamas has announced that its 'tahadiya' truce with Israel ended officially on Friday morning, six months after it began. A short time after the deadline, Palestinian terrorists launched fresh attacks on Israeli civilians just over the border. Israel and the Palestinians have entered a new juncture with both sides having to decide what happens now. IsraCast examines several possibilities that could lead either to an extended lull or a dangerous escalation.

How will President-elect Barack Obama deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other Middle-East issues after he enters the White House on January 20th? Israeli officials and observers are considering the change of guard not only in Washington but also in Jerusalem, where latest polls indicate that the Likud's Bibi Netanyahu is gradually increasing his lead over Kadima's Tzipi Livni.

During the American presidential campaign, Israeli political figures were careful not to make any comment that might be seen as favoring either Barack Obama or John McCain. But now, Israeli officials are again voicing their positions on Middle East issues. This trend will likely continue as Israel's own election campaign gets under way.

In what might be one of his last briefings to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee - outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert summed-up Israel's strategic situation. His briefing came against the background of his Kadima party's leadership primaries on September 17th, to select a new party leader. IsraCast reports that at the closed door briefing, a senior IDF intelligence officer warned that if all goes well for Iran, it could acquire nuclear weapons by early 2010.

Although he is being investigated for political and financial corruption, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not letting that interfere with his current contacts with both the Palestinians and Syrians. He has just briefed the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee on where things stand. However, most of the MKs told IsraCast that Olmert had no business conducting negotiations under the present circumstances and making concessions on his way out of office.